001 : Atlas initial research ALAR 8010 Research Studio | Street Life . Fall 2021
“As a creative practice, mapping precipitates its most productive effects through a finding that is also a founding; its agency lies in neither reproduction nor imposition but rather in uncovering realities previously unseen or unimagined, even across seemingly exhausted grounds. Thus, mapping unfolds potential; it re-makes territory over and over again, each time with new and diverse consequences.”
James Corner, “The Agency of Mapping”
Schedule The first module seeks to unpack the issues framed in the studio introduction through Launch: Tuesday, August 24th simultaneous research, mapping, bibliography, and the creation of research statement Review: Tuesday, September 9th (stance). More than simply collecting research to document existing conditions, research as defined in this module should focus on setting a strategic agenda for the semester. Because you are working at the scale of the city, work performed in this module should involve mapping across multiple scales and projections; research along multiple timescales to reveal past, present, and future states; and indexing along horizontal and vertical transects to reveal physical and atmospheric conditions. In addition, this module asks you to take a speculative approach, drawing conclusions, forming questions, and establishing hypotheses. In other words, this research is not neutral—rather, it should tell a particular story about gentrification and its role in the transformation of Berlin that lays a foundation for future strategic investigation.
It is critical in this phase that your research is not restricted to planometric maps and diagrams. Rather, you should develop research utilizing a variety of metrics and formats including maps, diagrams, sections, visualizations, case studies, and writing.
1. To become familiar with the city of Berlin through a variety of lenses 2. To establish a definition of gentrification that accounts for multiple, simultaneous valuations 3. To develop a statement outlining your team’s stance on landscape architecture, gentrification, and the city of Berlin, which will guide your strategic approach to future intervention throughout the semester 4. To produce a body of research that specifically outlines the scope of your interests and the relationships with your colleagues
Part I: Research + Mapping Working in groups of 2-3, students should consider the lenses in the list below, this is merely a starting point and you can on this list as appropriate to your research. Together, these lenses should help you to form a perspective through which to view the complex and challenging nature of gentrification within Berlin, and ultimately to frame strategies for targeted intervention. For each lens, students should gather topical maps, datasets, texts, and other primary sources, with a focus on three scales: 1) the scale of the city and/or region, 2) the scale of a defined sociocultural, economic, or ecological subregion/neighborhood, and 3) the scale of smaller interventions, activities, etc.
To catalyze this research, you may find it helpful to focus on one or more historical events or epochs (policies and laws, technological innovations, migrations, political upheaval, ecological shift, environmental disaster, etc.) which have occurred or are occurring in the city.
Socio-Cultural Lenses: 1. Consider historical photos, aerials, timelines, important events, etc. at multiple timescales, including geological, paleontological, and anthropological. 2. Culture Consider holidays, celebrations, cultural practices of immigrant and second-generation communities, importance of public space and landscapes in these cultural practices, etc. 3. Society Consider current demographics and demographic shifts, countries of origin for immigrant populations, population dynamics, age groups, etc.
Economic Lenses: 4. Economy Consider poverty, development pressures, industrial revenue, real estate shifts, local and federal incentive funding, etc. from both micro (individual/company scale) and macroeconomic (state/nation/global) perspectives 5. Technology Consider patents, key technologies, monitoring and sensing technologies, etc. 6. Productive Consider industrial and agricultural practices over time, major crops and historic yields, federal incentives/subsidies, major ag industries and players, etc.
Ecological Lenses: 7. Hydrology Consider water bodies and infrastructural systems (especially as these have changed over time), dams and hydrological infrastructure, groundwater, historic rainfall, seasonal patterns, etc.
8. Ecology Consider flora/fauna, impacts of regime shifts, and agriculture on the region’s ecology, etc. 9. Geology Consider topography, topographic shifts, geological history, soils, subsidence, etc.
Part 2: Bibiliography Each group will also develop a bibliography within the shared Zotero group. Create a folder to contain all of your references with clear organization.
Part 3: Statement In addition to gathering mapping and gathering research, student groups will be asked to consider their personal design interests, beliefs, and agendas, and how those will come into play this semester as you create speculative design proposals for the city of Berlin. These beliefs should be summarized in a 500 word statement that highlights your definition of gentrification and how the public realm, in particular the streetscape may play a role. Your statement is an evolving piece of writing that we will continue to revisit throughout the semester, and in this iteration will help guide the formation of your atlas and subsequent phases within the studio.
Deliverables The description of each deliverable outlined below is intended as a general guideline—the specific format and contents of each deliverable should be developed in teams during desk crits. The following list of deliverables outlines minimum requirements for satisfactory completion of this module. Additional output is strongly encouraged.
• Atlas: a refined print publication, using 11” x 17” spreads, which synthesizes your group’s research and mapping through your chosen lenses. The atlas should be cohesively designed, and should include a variety of maps, diagrams, photos, and accompanying text. • Bibliography: a shared Zotero bibliography • Stance: a 500 word statement that outlines your group’s approach, beliefs, desires, and stance towards gentrification in Berlin in a clear, compelling manner. This is NOT a summary of research, nor a plan for specific design goals. Rather, the stance should be a bold, provocative statement which will continue to evolve throughout the semester. This will be included in the Atlas.
Schedule 001 : Initial Research . Atlas Week 1 8.24 Studio Introduction and Topical overview 8.26 Initial Research Topics outlined
Week 2 8.31 Peer Review Session, Research Progress 9.2 Working Session
Week 3 9.7 Peer Review, Research Progress
9.9 Discussion of Research Outcomes, identification of further research
Resources • Brink, Adri van den. Research in Landscape Architecture Methods and Methodology (highlighted chapters). Routledge, 2017. • Conrads, Ulrich. Programs and Manifestoes On 20th-Century Architecture. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 1970. • Corner, James. “Aerial Representation and the Making of Landscape” in Corner, James S and Alex S MacLean. Taking Measures: Across the American Landscape. New Haven [Conn.]: Yale University Press, 1996. Pp. 15-24. • Corner, James. “The Agency of Mapping: Speculation, Critique and Invention” in Cosgrove, Denis E. Mappings. London: Reaktion Books, 1999. • Cosgrove, Denis. “Carto-City” in Abrams, Janet and Peter Hall. Else/Where: Mapping New Cartographies of Networks and Territories. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Design Institute, Distributed by University of Minnesota Press, 2006. • Deming, M. Elen, and Simon R. Swaffield. Landscape Architecture Research: Inquiry, Strategy, Design. Wiley, 2011. • Dietz, Steve. “Mapping the Homunculus” in Abrams, Janet and Peter Hall. Else/Where: Mapping New Cartographies of Networks and Territories. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Design Institute, Distributed by University of Minnesota Press, 2006. • Waldheim, Charles. “Aerial Representation and the Recovery of Landscape” in Corner, James and Alan Balfour. Recovering Landscape: Essays In Contemporary Landscape Architecture. New York, NY: Princeton Architectural Press, 1999. • Van Leeuwen, Andrew. “Mapping the Modern Manifesto: 110 Years of Architectural Declarations.” ARCADE 32.2 (Fall 2014). http://arcadenw.org/article/manifesto-test